


What Matt Holt would call 'a favor'

by Fyava



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (how do you even tag these things?), (really bad english tbh), Comedy, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith is an university student, M/M, Matt is... Matt, Matt tries to wingman and has a habit to pull weird stunts, Shiro is crushing pretty hard, Smoking, Starbucks, Using the last name 'Kogane' for Keith, i don't know what i'm doing stop me now, some very not funny puns, this was supposed to be one shot but oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-04-14 03:07:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14126748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyava/pseuds/Fyava
Summary: It always starts with a hangover. The continuation involves some weird actions of so-called wingman and this dude with a mullet. Take it or leave it, Shiro.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A silly, short word monster from the very back of a folder called "let's get over this fear of letting people read my stuff."  
> Not very entertaining, not very good but it's a start.  
> Un-beta'd, all the mistakes are mine since english is not my first language but try to tolerate my crap.  
> Thank you for tumbling in here & I hope you enjoy.
> 
> *Possible similarities to other works are totally unintentional unless told otherwise.*

Shiro yelps when he feels Matt's fingers digging under his ribs.

”Look,” Matt hisses, ”he's here!”

Shiro glares his friend with a furrowing brow, expression alarmingly reminding Matt about a mistreated puppy to be completely honest in here. Shiro whines a silent 'what?'  
Matt darts a side eye towards the counter they walked away from mere seconds earlier.

”I said,” he stops Shiro right before they reach the front door of small Starbucks, very aware of the fact that they're blocking the only way in and out, ”that your latest daydream 'too silent combat boots served with a mullet' just stepped in front of the counter and oh- oh, look his lips are moving and--”  
Shiro can almost hear a whistle escaping Matt's lips, ”and judging by his choice of jeans I bet--”

Shiro slaps his palm on Matt's mouth before the damage is done, fluster already creeping up his spine. He swallows loudly, not exactly sure if to tell his best friend the most sincere of thank yous or a polite order to ski right into the nearest of swamps. He feels Matt's mouth turning into a smirk under his palm and figures they should probably step farther away from the door since something tells him (a hint: knowing Matthew Holt) that they're not leaving just yet.  
Just how did he miss him entering the room?

Shiro finally gives himself a permission to peek towards the counter and a dubstep disco starts in his chest. Why isn't it straight-up illegal to find jeans that... tight.  
Unconciously he squeezes his take away- cup, giving no attention to Matt's 'we both know very well you like it'- look.

 

About four weeks ago they had (accidentally) discovered the almost pocket-sized Starbucks cafe right next to Marmora University. Yes, the very first of their visits had mostly involved an intense search of something to cure a hangover and following a non-stop flow of tired-looking university students. And that's when Matt had nudged his shoulder.

”Oh shit, Shiro. You might want to check that out--”

Eventually Matt had come to regret that move. His hurting brain had simply forgotten just how hopeless Shiro could be when it came to (any kind of) romance. And we're not talking about slightly hopeless here, not at all, since about four fucking weeks had gone like this.

Those four weeks had been all about noticing the daydream wearing mostly black skin tight jeans, noticing the lenght of shoe shank he favoured and (not to sound creepy at this point) the amount of different leather jackets he used. Three of them were black, one of them more loose than other two. Yet Shiro's favourites were the red ones 'the daydream' tend to use more. Those two were almost identical, yet one of them making Shiro's blush obviously deeper (according to Matt the ”just call me psychic because I fucking know what you think about zippers in leather jackets.”)

And now this boy with his black hair and definitely the hotter red jacket yanks a wallet out of his pocket and Shiro knows he and Matt should keep going...

He doesn't exactly see everything through soft pink filter but surely, he had been hit by some kind of small arrow with a heart-shaped head. Something in this boy just begs to be noticed by Shiro. He's sure he has never seen anyone so enchanting.

”And so,” Matt drags Shiro out of his wandering thoughts, ”it's been- what, at least three weeks by now?”  
Shiro absently whispers a silent 'four' as they take a few steps left when some new customers walk in.  
”Four it is. And in four weeks you haven't said a word to him. Not a single one.”  
Matt places his hand on Shiro's shoulder as theatrically as he can and continues ”Sir, I'd recommend you to man up before this beauty gets bored and decides to fetch his caffeine from somewhere else.”

Shiro rolls his eyes exaggeratedly, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards. 'The daydream' has placed himself in one of the booths, scrolling through his phone and lazily chewing gum.

”I just-” Shiro starts but loses his words again when settling his eyes on the boy. Matt sighs deeply.  
”I haven't come up with an excuse to talk to him yet,” Shiro continues, ”and I bet he would punch me or something – have you seen that annoyed expression?”

”Yes I have, Shiro. Settling that aside I'm really disappointed in you.”

Shiro's smile turns into an amused smirk yet his eyes still linger on the black haired stranger.

”For what I remember, son, I didn't raise you this way,” Matt declares, ”I didn't raise you to need an excuse to talk to a hot human being. It isn't that hard, walking to someone and say 'hey--'”

”Shit!” Shiro hisses and cuts Matt's monologue (who in turn lets out a disapproving noise.)  
”He's getting up and,” Matt watches as his friend turns red, ”-so he's coming this way!”

Matt lifts up his eyebrows and brings his coffee to his lips. He watches as tall, slim and sexy as hell fetches his order from the counter. Shiro next to him starts to turn from Takashi Shirogane into Takashi Shiro-panic and that's when Matt Holt, also known for many things yet mostly about pulling random (and somewhat shitty) stunts decides to take his duty as a best friend and suddenly yanks Shiro forward, aimlessly pointing outside of huge glass windows:

”What in the dang world is that?”

Shiro's attention turns towards the direction that Matt's index finger is furiously pointing at and Matt in turn shoves his hand in Shiro's pocket, grabbing his wallet and dropping it on the floor right behind them. They exit the cafe, meeting the cold autumn breeze.

Shiro practically whines: ”What the shit? Is there supposed to be something..?”

Matt places his palm on Shiro's back and shrugs his shoulders:  
”Nah, you just missed it. It might have been a bird – or an alien. Doesn't matter anymore.”

Shiro sighs and gives a side-eye to his friend. He knows better not to question it since it's Matthew Holt we're talking about.  
Matt glances behind them but doesn't see even a glimpse of red.

 

When they reach Matt's front porch Shiro's phone rings. Matt turns a key in a lock and steps inside, Shiro following a few steps behind.

”It's an unknown number.”

”Well,” Matt says (very pleased with himself, thank you very much) and leans over to see the number, ”something tells me you might want to answer that. Put it on speaker, I want to hear and send some friendly fuck offs if needed.”

Shiro only nods at that and answers the phone with a dull 'hello'.

”Is this, um... Takaha- Takashi Shirogane?”

Matt high fives himself when he sees the confused look in Shiro's eyes. Shiro gives a simple 'yes' before asking: ”I'm sorry, who's this?”

”Yeah, sorry, this is Keith...” the caller falls silent for a moment before continues, sounding a little embarrassed, ”Keith Kogane.”  
Another fleeting silence.  
”Oh, I'm calling because I saw you dropping your wallet in Starbucks and I picked it up so--”

Shiro shoves his hand into his pocket and fucking hell, it truly is gone. Thank goodness it had his contact information written in there.

”Heck, thank you so much Keith,” he sighs, ”didn't even realize it was gone. Where can I come and pick it up?”

There is an awkward cough before Keith continues with shyer tone: ”We could meet up somewhere this evening if that's okay with you? I'm in a hurry right now but I should be free in few hours.”

Shiro runs his fingers through his hair, relieved smile widening on his lips.

”Sure! I'll treat you something for this! How can I identify you?”

(At this point it's probably worth noticing that Matt has hid himself in the kitchen for not being able to hide his grin, ready to burst into a bubbling laughter. And a reason for that laughter might remain a secret to Shiro for a moment longer. Even to him some things in Matt Holt has always been, and always will remain as a huge question mark. And one of those things is his wicked, a bit sadistic and unidentifiable sense of humor.)

”You might have seen me in Starbucks just a while back,” Keith says, ”but if this helps I have, uh, black hair and red leather jacket and-- I think you know when you see me.”

And so Matthew Holt walks from kitchen in great amusement, only to find Shiro turning from pale to pink and to all the way red. And knowing Shiro, every single word in english language has just turned into total gibberish. A breathless 'okay' is all he can say.

”Great. So this is my number so how about we text later where to meet and when?” Keith asks and gets another faint 'okay' in return before they awkwardly exchange byes. Shiro lowers the phone and with a blank face he turns to Matt:

”Fucking aliens.” Shiro breathes out and Matt bursts into a laughter again.

”You wanted an excuse and I gave you one!”

”Fuck, Matt, this is not what I meant! Not at all!” and Shiro knows that's all he can say. It would be totally useless to ask 'why', and that's because as a best friend of Matt Holt, who has a habit to pull utterly fucking intolerable shit from time to time, Shiro really had gotten his fair share of this kind of stunts. Instead he settles with: ”My fucking wallet!”

Matt breathes deeply and pats Shiro on the bicep.

”Relax, big boy. He's Pidge's friend.”

Well that wasn't exactly what Shiro was prepared to hear as his eyes widen and mouth drops open. For a moment he just gasps for breath, looking like the utter dork Matt has known since they were three years old.

”So you knew him this whole time?” Shiro asks and Matt nods.

”Kinda. Since Pidge goes to Garrison I just asked her. No big deal.”

Shiro shook his head, trying to process the words 'no big deal'. It was a fucking huge deal and that brought up the question:  
”Matt, what exactly are you doing?”

And to that Matt answers by spreading his arms as theatrically and dramatically as possible and saying:

”I'm mostly doing miracles. But this? I'd call this a favor.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of sighing and wondering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Millions and millions of rewrites, painfully sober hours and cigarette breaks later...
> 
> I present you the second chapter that no one asked for.
> 
> *evil, but also self-pitying laughter*
> 
> Alright now I'm having a good cry.

They are seated around a table that barely fits four people, trying to put together a group assignment. In very front of their classroom professor Montgomery blabbers about something that flies over Keith's head high and fast, and absent-mindedly he trails his fingertips along narrow scar on his left forearm.

In the back on his mind plays a song he cannot name.

 

” _...with a kiss on your head. I'll take the kids to school, wave them goodb--” Ouch._

 

There's a sting on his cheek and he blinks couple of times before narrows his eyes towards the only possible culprit – _Lance_.

 

”What the hell, man?”

 

Lance fiddles an eraser on his fingertips and watches him in some form of disbelief.

 

”You know I have thrown these at you for like, five minutes?” he says, and Keith watches around him. The table, along with his lap, is full of small pieces of blue eraser. He ends up giving Lance a blank stare, clearly annoying him with a lack of reaction. ”Dude, what is it with you today?”

 

Hunk's voice carries from behind his back, and Keith startles a little. ”Yeah, you're spacing out, like, big time.”

 

This is followed by Pidge's offended cry and a mumble how she 'just colored over the lines'.

 

Keith has no idea for how long they have sat behind him, dragging color sharpies along unfinished tattoo on his left shoulder blade. They had slid down the shoulder strap to get a better access to their boredom killer, and Keith gives them a glare before he slides the strap back up. They both sigh and start to make their way back to their own seats.

 

”Bullshit,” Keith mumbles and watches down to his hands.

 

_Oh yeah? You're bullshitting no one but yourself, mister._

 

He was spacing out – _big time_ , he adds sarcastically in his head and wrinkles his nose – and the reason was painfully obvious. He thinks about the wallet in his backpack, the picture on driver's license he tried too hard to _not_ stare when he made his way back to University and how Shirogane had leaned over the counter in attempt to flirt himself a discount...

 

” _Oh Starbucks' stunning Romelle! How is the most beautiful flower in garden today?”_

 

_Romelle giggles and turns to Matt, who shrugs innocently._

 

” _Come on, Matt,” she says playfully, ”we have our hands full with just one of you!”_

 

” _Uh, hello?” Shiro reaches to grab Romelle's chin with thumb and a forefinger. He gently turns her back to him and tries to smile charmingly but cannot keep straight face, ”not even a little discount?”_

 

_Romelle giggles and grabs Shiro's fingers, lacing them with her own. She leans closer, bringing her lips to Shiro's ear and says so loudly all customers can surely hear:_

 

” _Shiro, you know I love you, but if you listen Matt's flirting advice once more I am going to make you pay twice.”_

 

_Matt burst out laughing and slams Shiro on the back of his head. Romelle leans back and hurries them to 'place their fucking orders, there's a line behind them'._

 

” _Alright, alright,” Shiro snickers, ”but how about this – you give me a discount and I won't tell Pidge you're totally head over heels for her.”_

 

_Romelle lets out a sound between gasp and cackle, ”Alright boys, you have five seconds to order or I'm going to kick you out.”_

 

” _But we are paying custome-”_

 

” _Shiro I'm so proud of your progress but I want my fucking coffee so zip it,” Matt says so fast it's hard to tell the words apart. Shiro smacks him on the bicep but orders._

 

His lips threaten to curl upward.

 

”Seriously, you've been like this since lunch break,” Hunk says, eyebrows knitting down, ”if the coffee was that bad we can just go back and complain.”

 

”Yeah, Red, it's no big deal,” Pidge adds, ”tell me what's up.”

 

”If you give Romelle a kiss I bet the new cup is on the house,” Lance drums his fingers on tabletop with uneven beat and wiggles his thin eyebrows. Keith frowns.

 

Pidge is cracking her knuckles playfully, directing it to Lance.

 

”You know, Lance, I might have to kick your ass if you keep stepping on my territory.”

 

”Oh yeah?” Lance asks and leans over the table. Pidge meets him at halfway. They growl to each other for a good while, and Keith rolls his eyes, reaching to snatch his phone from a stack of papers.

 

No new notifications.

 

”But seriously guys,” Hunk says, rising on his feet to push Lance and Pidge to their own seats. ”here's what we do. When the clock hits four we sprint to cinema, let Keith murder strut inside first so we can get past the line-” Keith yelps a 'hey, what the hell?'- ”and we pick the most ridiculous movie out of the list. Then we get extra large popcorn buckets times four and after the movie we go get hot dogs and drive to the river.”

 

Technically? It wasn't a bad idea. However, Pidge is the first one to talk:

 

”Nope, dentist.”

 

Hunk answers by squinting his eyes and mouthing a word 'traitor'. She darts her tongue out.

 

”Yeah, I-” Keith hesitates but decides continues, ”I need to be somewhere, too.”

 

Hunk watches him with head tilted a little, frustration peeking from behind his eyes. ”You know, Keith, you can't keep cancelling our plans because you want to kick kittens or bond with evil spirits or whatever.”

 

Lance nods meaningfully and Keith grunts, throwing himself against the backrest.

 

”No, guys, I actually need to meet someone,” the words come out sounding more desperate than he had intended, but his friends seem to not notice. They settle on their asses to solve a mental puzzle in attempt to figure out what kind of felony he was about to execute.

Lance, with the most serious tone Keith has ever heard leaving his mouth, almost mumbling under his breath, eyes widened by disbelief;

 

”Keith, are you dealing drugs?”

 

Keith swears he's about to jump on the table to give Lance's forehead a good kick.

 

”What? No, I just need to see someone! Jesus Christ-”

 

”Leave Jesus out of this for he's not going to help you now. Just tell us, mister Question mark,” Pidge shifts impatiently on her seat. He waits for Keith to turn to her so she can stare him dead in the eye, knowing that he feels himself challenged. Keith exhales through flaring nostrils.

 

”It's none of your business, okay?”

 

Pidge doesn't take no to an answer and leans closer. Professor Montgomery takes that exact moment to announce 'them to have ten minutes left', and Pidge tries to accepts her defeat.

 

”I'll find out your secret, you just wait.”

 

Keith mumbles a faint 'whatever' and turns to his laptop.

 

The peace doesn't last long, of course. Instead of getting words on the document in front of him his brain decides to focus on detective work duty. He can almost feel his consciousness tying strings together and pushing his functioning ability to concentrate right down a cliff.

 

”Hey, Pidge,” he addresses and the girl turns to him.

 

”Yes my child? Tell me your worries.”

 

”Doesnt'...” the hesitation slows his words down, but his natural instinct to make things harder than they already are takes the wheel. ”Doesn't your brother have a friend called Takashi Shirogane?”

 

Her face lights up. ”Shiro? Yes, they've been friends since it was cool to steal toys in sandbox. He's like our brother from a different mother.”

 

She chuckles privately at something and Keith likes to think that's that, but then things start to click in place in her head. He can pinpoint the moment realization hits her and with no time to even swallow nervously, she shouts so loud her voice must carry to the hallway.

 

”HOLY SHIT, KEITH--”

 

In a mere second she's up from her seat and racing towards the classroom door, leaving a cloud of dust after her.

 

*** * ***

 

Matt keeps the phone away from his poor ear until Pidge stops yelling. Then he sighs and when he brings the phone closer again he says;

 

”Listen, Katie, I know we haven't seen each other in-” he peeks at the clock ticking on the wall- ”in seven and half hours and I'd really love to catch up with you but this is really bad time.”

 

In small living room Shiro walks around in circle, hands aimlessly wandering in need of something to settle on.

 

”I swear, Matt, I'm never going to answer any of your questions again!” she threatens, and Matt moves his gaze to a pink blender sitting on a shelf. He considers shoving his phone in there, following with his whole arm and maybe himself.

 

”Oh, 'me poorness, how upsetting,” Matt deadpans, ”when does your class end?”

 

”In five-” Pidge starts but stops just as fast. Matt can almost imagine the sour look on her face, ”how mature, you shit-goblin.”

 

Matt groans: ”Ouch, you kiss our mother with that mouth?”

 

Pidge sighs so unnaturally long Matt begins to wonder if she's about to exhale herself unconscious.

 

”Anyway,” he continues, ”I am an adult and I have responsibilities. One of them is planning to die on our carpet in living room so I need to go.”

 

Pidge stammers in panic, trying to keep Matt on the line but he already hovers his thumb over the red button. He shouts a hurried 'bye' over her protests and ends the call. He knows Pidge is cursing him with all her tiny might, but he just sighs and succeeds to stay away from the blender with some inhumane amount of mental strength. Instead, he heads to living room, towards the human disaster of the century.

 

”Hey Piglet, how about a cigarette break?” Matt stops next to Shiro and gives his shoulder a light squeeze. He waits until Shiro turns to him, and he holds Shiro's look until the confusion slowly drains away from his eyes. Matt doesn't move, doesn't make a sound, letting Shiro transfer all his restlessness to Matt's firm palm until a faint smile finally ghosts on his lips. Matt pats his shoulder a few times, 'that's more like it, big boy', and turns to head to the back door leading to their small backyard. Shiro fetches his cigarettes from pocket of his jacket.

 

Matt has already placed himself on one out of three plastic chairs. The backyard of a row house apartment isn't any bigger than Matt's hopes for Shiro at the moment, but it gives a nice view straight to the oblivion in those nights they are shit-faced by themselves, and wonder about life. It's just enough for three ugly and wobbly plastic chairs and even wobblier table, too, and that's pretty much all Pidge and Matt (and Shiro) needed. To not lose himself into that oblivion, Shiro places a cigarette between his lips but eyes Matt before lighting it up.

 

See, there was a funny thing in Matthew Holt. It was something so extraordinary that it made Shiro just wonder. Ages ago he had realized that his connection to Holt family was way stronger than his connection had ever been with anyone who shared the same blood. They were like his family. And because Shiro was corny as hell and believed in past lives, next lives and in the idea of soulmates shaped to be together lifetime after lifetime, he believed that the feeling of familiarity and closeness must have come from their past life. Maybe they had once faced courageous adventures together.

 

It was satisfying to believe in nonsense like that, as long as he didn't get drawn out too deep in it.

 

He breathes out a small laughter and pushes the thoughts away. Matt turns to him, picking an old scar on his cheek with pinkie and exhales smoke through his nose.

 

”Nervous?”

 

Shiro shrugs like nothing in the past four weeks has been a big deal – _like all the times he had blushed all the way to his toes when Keith had accidentally rested his eyes on him hadn't been a big deal._ He tries his best to not pity himself and says:

 

”Yeah, a little,” and he stops so Matt can snort from the very bottom of his heart and repeat mockingly ' _a little_ ', ”I don't even know the guy. He's good-looking but he might just as well be an asshole.”

 

Matt whistles and drags in smoke before answers, leaving the cigarette dangling between his lips:

 

”That's not possible. Katie would never befriend an asshole.”

 

Shiro would like to fight against the fact that Matt is right, but leaves it at that and settles to stare somewhere in the distance. He knows he should stop before his Worst Fears would inform that the cigarette break is over and it's time to return to the meeting with Scenarios of Everything That Could Go Wrong. He's a little petrified until Matt flicks his brown lighter alive again and the click feels nearly deafening.

He blinks couple of times and tries to push away the thought that he and Keith would never get along. He needs to give himself a chance.

 

”You know what, Shiro,” Matt says and puffs out smoke, ”your relationships have ended badly because they clearly weren't the ones meant to last. They have ended to make way to the one that lasts. It sucks, but that's just how it is.”

 

Shiro flicks his cigarette butt into a dirty glass jar on the table.

 

”You mean like you and Allura _had_ to end it so you could have a chance with--”

 

”Yeah,” Matt cuts in sharply. He takes a deep breath and Shiro knows he shouldn't have pointed it out. He knew how much they had loved each other, and probably would until the end, because first loves weren't that easily forgotten. But separating had been inevitable, and Matt had found someone he could call 'the one'. The fate was cruel but it wasn't to be questioned.

 

”But I have a feeling it's going to be different this time,” Matt says, gentler, ”I'd dare to say that mr. Hot-Jacket Tight-Pants is-”

 

Shiro cocks an eyebrow.

 

”...nevermind.”

 

' _Keith'_ , Shiro points out under his breath and fidgets his black lighter on his fingertips. No matter what anyone said, he remained _terrified_. He thinks, it almost feels like that one time back when he and Matt were seventh-graders and got suspended for a week. They were scared shitless and decided to hitch themselves to the nearest city in attempt to avoid a lecture. Well, one can only imagine how that had turned out.

 

”He's still someone we don't know...” Shiro mutters mainly to himself, but Matt snorts lazily:

 

”Dude, haven't we always jumped head first towards unknown.”

 

*** * ***

 

”If you know Matthew how come you don't know Shirogane?” Lance asks, stuffing a marshmallow in his mouth. He chews and swallows it like a sugar-starved four year old and continues, ”They're always together. They probably share the brain or something.”

 

”I don't doubt that,” Pidge shrugs and spins her car keys around her index finger, ”They say great minds think alike but fools rarely differ.”

 

Keith has crossed his arms over the Ramones- logo on his tank top. He chews _-murders_ \- a bubblegum in a verge of desperation because _Shirogane has not answered to him_. It makes wild scenarios run in his head, and he's nearly ready to assure himself that it was too good to be true. Taking one thing at a time, he answers:

 

”I know who he is but I've never talked to him or anything. I've never even been in Pidge's place, remember?”

 

They are standing in main lobby of Garrison University building, collecting looks from exhausted bypassers. Packs of students are wandering back and forth, heading for the next place to be or just leaving as fast as humanly possible. They catch Lance throwing a wink once in a while, but Keith doesn't take too much notice about the surroundings. He clutches his phone like his life depends on it.

 

Pidge rises her glasses on top of her head and rubs her left eye. ”Really?” she lowers the glasses, ”When I think about it- you haven't even been around that long.”

 

Keith cocks an eyebrow and points his index finger towards the Men In Black- logo on Pidge's -or technically Matt's- oversized t-shirt. ”Like a year isn't 'long'”

 

She shrugs and taps a tip of her shoe on the floor. ”We're going to fix that.”

 

Keith exhales and lowers his eyes to Hunk's yellow Nikes.

 

He wasn't nervous, not really. Mostly, it was the conversation they had had when the class had ended and they were waiting for Pidge to return from the mysterious phone call adventure that bugged him.

 

” _I can't believe you have a date with Shirogane,” Lance mutters and searches his backpack for something to eat. Keith almost chokes on his cherry Cola._

 

” _What-” a cough, ”the-” a cough, ”it's not a date! Dude just dropped his wallet!”_

 

_Hunk snorts and Keith turns to give him a sour look._

 

” _Listen, Keith, my dude. More like Matt dropped.”_

 

” _Yeah,” Lance continues before Keith gets to argue, ”you clearly haven't met Matthew.”_

 

” _What the hell are you talking about?” Keith says and stops walking. The others follow his example and place themselves in front of him._

 

” _You are rather slow today, my alien friend. If Matt dropped Shirogane's wallet right in front of you I'm, like, 99% sure he has his pecks-- eyes, I mean eyes, on you.” Lance monologues like he knows the whole truth, and Hunk nods approvingly. Keith stares them wide-eyed and takes an aggressive sip from his Coke can._

 

” _You've got to be joking-”_

 

” _I know, I know – it's adorable when your face imitates your jacket but I swear I'm telling the truth. Or like, 99% sure.”_

 

_Keith lets out a noise between a grunt and a whine, and wishes deep in his mind that this would be the moment Grim Reaper comes for him. If not, he hopes that the mental pressure is heavy enough to snap his neck._

 

_No such luck._

 

” _But if you can't handle the idea of a date then you can just give the wallet to Pidge. Shirogane practically lives in her and Matt's place.”_

 

He cared enough to _not_ give the wallet to Pidge.

 

”Anyway, I gotta run,” Pidge says and closes the keys inside her fist, ”good luck, lover boy. Don't forget to use your outer space- charm.”

 

Keith rolls his eyes in hopes of finding an off- switch for his brain. Hunk and Lance turn to wave at Pidge before focusing on him, only to be startled by a Road Runner- sound. (Because hey, you could pry the greatest notification sound in existence from his cold, dead hands.)

 

_'Hi! I'm about a 15min walk away from downtown. Where would you like to meet? -Takashi Shirogane'_

 

Keith bites his lower lip before he reads it to Hunk and Lance. They watch him, unimpressed by his stillness, until Hunk finally moves his weight from one leg to another.

 

”You haven't thought about the place, have you?”

 

Lance sighs _very_ exaggeratedly.

 

”You are impossible. If I may suggest--”

 

”No,” Keith stops him faster than angry lightning bolt hits the ground and biting his thumbnail turns to Hunk instead, ”you worked in that cafe, in-- Sal's, right?”

 

*** * ***

 

Shiro kicks a pebble with a tip of his gray All Star. He follows its movement with his eyes until it stops and then kicks it again. And again. And again. His earlier nervousness has stopped running aimlessly ages ago and settled in very back of his stomach instead. There it clutches its knees against its chest and rocks back and forth restlessly.

Shiro, too, wants to curl into a ball and restlessly rock back and forth.

 

Matt removes his attention from the phone screen.

 

”Are you sure you're okay?”

 

Well that was a stupid question. Everyone who knew Takashi Shirogane also knew that he couldn't fucking handle himself around the people he fancied.

 

”Yeah,” Shiro breathes out absent-mindedly and unintentionally tries to raise his hand to run fingers through perfectly styled hair (a la Matthew Holt, to be noted.) Matt's eyes widen and Shiro haven't seen him move so fast since they were seventeen and they were _too close_ to get caught when trying to hot-wire a car. He grabs Shiro's wrist just in time, face glowing with horror. Slowly he redirects it back on Shiro's hip and _swears_ to slap the living daylight out of him if he _dares_ to try it again.

 

”Don't try to sabotage yourself, young man,” he says strictly, but softens his tone, ”being nervous about something doesn't mean that thing's going to suck. It means it's worth a shot.”

 

Shiro doesn't answer but stands still as he places the final jugdement. Matt travels his eyes from All Stars to slightly loose jeans, up to a gray sweater under a worn out leather jacket. He rises to his tiptoes to adjust the white tuft of hair just a teeny-tiny-bit and finally smiles in approval – just in time to catch a flash of red and black on the corner of his eye. Shiro inhales once more and turns to watch the approaching figure.

 

It's almost funny. In the exact second Shiro's eyes settle on Keith he seems to fall under a spell. His breathing eases down to an even sound and Matt can almost see all his muscles loosening. Judging by his unchanged clothing, Keith's coming straight from the University. Even though his boots, jeans and the flaming red leather jacket are the same Shiro saw just few hours earlier, they still make his heart dance, run, and leap over the objects that doesn't even exist in the first place. Suddenly there's no sign of nervousness or anxiety, just calmness that closes him in like a warm and cozy blanket does. He watches the only new addition, a red flannel tied around Keith's waist, sway from side to side when he walks.

 

Matt, as a man of many opportunities, decides that this is a moment to frame over a fireplace. He lifts up his phone and a snap of a smartphone camera seems to wake Shiro from the hypnosis. Tips of his ears turn red when he realizes that Keith must already be in a hearing distance and he turns to Matt, trying to snatch away the phone. Matt dodges his attempts easily.

 

”Give me that or I'll tell everyone you're a nerd for conspiracy theories and you believe in aliens, and then I'm going to eat for your treat for five weeks!”

 

”Never,” Matt cackles and keeps the phone out of Shiro's reach, ”I'm going to frame this and call it 'Disaster Gay'”

 

Shiro gasps and pulls his arms back in his own personal space.

 

”You wouldn't dare!” he barks but Matt only smirks and wiggles his eyebrows.

 

Their bickering comes into a halt when slightly desperate voice carries over theirs:

 

”Uh- so you are Takashi Shirogane and Matthew Holt?”

 

Matt looks Shiro with obvious expectation in his eyes. _Come on, it's your boy_ , but pathetically Shiro just ends up stammering, mumbling something under his breath that makes Matt want to launch himself all the way to Pluto. He sticks his hand towards Keith.

 

”Yup, I'm Matt, Katie's favourite brother. And this-” he nods towards Shiro, ”this big ball of cotton candy with more than passable looks to be a stripper slash fireman is Shiro.”

 

The big ball of cotton candy with more than passable looks to be a stripper slash fireman almost chokes on his own saliva. It was a great try, but Matt doesn't clarify him 'dead' when he rubs awkwardly his neatly shaved back of the head. Matt makes a half-assed attempt to not sigh but fails, unsurprisingly.

 

”He may look like a wolf on the streets but he's a total sheep in the-- OUCH, WHY ON EARTH, SHIRO-- he's a total ten outta ten in sheets. Also, he thinks you're hot.”

 

Shiro's eyes are wide as saucers and he kicks Matt again. Keith releases his hand and takes a step backwards, watching how Matt shoves his elbow under Shiro's ribs.

 

”You -ouch- are a fucking leprechaun, just like your sister,” Shiro hisses. Matt slams his palm on his chest and gasps loudly, hurting himself in the process. Shiro snickers.

 

”Listen, you bag of dic-- very defined muscles, especially the pecs by the way, only I can talk about my sister with words such beautiful and full of meaning! Besides it's you who keeps hanging in our cave, and maybe Keith here would be really interested to know where you crawled yourself--”

 

Shiro's palm lands on his mouth with a _slap_ and they both turn to Keith, whose eyes jump wildly between them two. His eyebrows are hidden somewhere under his ruffled bangs and he has poorly hidden amusement slapped all over his features. Shiro blushes, not fiercely but just enouch to make Matt nauseous.

 

The shyness is still there, but seeing Keith up close, cracking a smile makes Shiro bite his bottom lip. There is a feeling of familiarity, the same one he often feels when he wonders about Holts. The familiarity that makes his eyes gentle, mouth curl upwards just slightly and eyebrows bend down a little – an ultimate feeling of serenity.

Until, of course, there's another camera snap and Matt grins wickedly next to him. Shiro casts him an offended look and shoves his shoulder to Matt's.

After a few balancing steps Matt keeps walking backwards, trying to snap another photo.

 

”Don't you fucking dare or I'll break your blender!” Shiro shouts. Matt gasps, and answers with poor british accent, voice high-pitched:

 

”Oh no, sir! Please, not my blender!”

 

He continues with a cackle, until Shiro picks up the pebble he had been kicking and throws it at him. The hit is followed by a string of curse words and a thumb sliding across the phone screen.

 

”As a cold-blooded revenge to you, mister, I'm opening Spotify and searching _Caaaan't... Stooop... Lovi-_ oh here it is!”

 

He brings his index finger to the phone screen with all his dramatic power and turns the volume up so they can hear Van Halen blaring.

Shiro groans to his palms.

 

Keith laughs, a small, vibrating sound that gives Shiro butterflies as Matt waves a 'goodbye to the full-course dinner'. When he finally dares to turn to Keith, he sees the familiar wallet:

 

”Listen, uh, you don't really need to treat me anything because I know you didn't do it on purpose...” his eyes wander around the sidewalk and as Shiro reaches to take the wallet their fingers brush just slightly. Keith pulls his hand back and sinks his slender fingers in black hair to brush them behind his ear.

 

When Keith finally looks back at Shiro, they hold the gaze, not caring about the spectators of their show behind Sal's huge windows. Keith tilts his head as cute as a kitten and it takes all Shiro's mental strength to keep his hands to himself. Slowly, he tracks every little detail from Keith's thick eyelashes to a tip of a tongue peeking out to wet his lips, and the expression screaming 'are you okay, you weird stranger who just bickered with his best friend like five-year-olds and now I'm wondering if you'd give me a head start if I decided to save myself and run'.

(Well, instantly there's Matt's voice in his head, screeching like a velociraptor; 'IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD, YOU INSECURE PILE OF CARE BEARS WITH A SMOKING HABIT' and yes, he was going to be fine.)

 

”No, no, Keith. I _want_ to treat you somehing if even after all that childishness you're still willing to sit down with me,” he says, and Keith smiles shyly. Shiro nods towards the cafe.

 

There's four-people line to the counter and in comfortable silence they stand in their place, following customers who come and go. When they have ordered and found a spot to sit, Shiro apologizes again;

 

”Really, Keith, I am so sorry you had to, um-” he scratches his neck and laughs awkwardly. Keith smiles to him behind his coffee cup, ”it's just that Matt has this stupid habit of-”

 

Keith puts his cup down and reaches towards Shiro's hand that rests on the table to give it a squeeze – of course, only to realize too late what he's doing. He pulls his hand back and the shocked expression makes Shiro chuckle.

 

”I- uh, look, I totally get it. We all need that one friend.”

 

Shiro takes a sip from his coffee and nods in agreement. Sometimes they all needed someone who instead of giving helping hand throws in both arms. Matt, though, always gave him a chance to walk away. Take it or leave it, that's what he always said.

This time Shiro takes it with no second thoughts.

 

He wonders, just for a second, what could be going on in Keith's head.

 

The boy in red leather jacket, even though little scared how fast someone had hurled themself through his thick layer of personal security, wonders about the absence of alarm bells in his head. He has drowned himself under warm feelings of familiarity, tenderness and unmistakable longing in Shiro's eyes. He fancied the feeling how it didn't make him anxious, but instead warm and fuzzy, and even if he was a little scared, he might have fallen in love a little bit.

 

And that was something Matthew Holt, shamelessly celebrating his efforts and declaring himself to be the horn of ultimate truth, was justified to call 'a favor'.

 


End file.
